On May 4, 2026, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new mid-decade congressional map drafted by his office. Under the prior map, Florida voters elected 20 Republicans and eight Democrats to the U.S. House. The new map has 24 districts that Donald Trump carried in 2024 and four where most voters backed Kamala Harris, which could net Republicans four seats, Florida Politics reported. Democracy Docket reported that DeSantis led the unusual mid-decade redistricting as part of Trump's broader effort to tilt the 2026 midterm elections.
Less than two hours after the signing, the Equal Ground Education Fund and 18 voters, represented by the Elias Law Group, sued in Leon County Circuit Court. They argued the map violates the Fair Districts Amendment, approved by Florida voters in 2010, which bars drawing congressional districts with intent to favor or disfavor a political party. The complaint calls the plan “one of the most extreme gerrymanders in American history” and says it cracks and packs Democratic voters in Tampa Bay, Orlando and South Florida. Other suits followed, and the trial judge combined them into one case; lawyers for the Campaign Legal Center and Common Cause Florida were among those seeking an injunction.
The plaintiffs' central evidence was testimony from the map's drawer, Jason Poreda, a senior analyst in DeSantis's office. Poreda told the Legislature, “Partisan or electoral performance data was considered, but certainly not at the exclusion of all of the other standards.” The complaint says partisan metrics were “mixed in” across the whole map, including in the “final balancing” of districts. A lawyer for the state Senate countered that Poreda “repeatedly denied drawing the map with partisan intent.” Under Florida precedent, courts can strike down a map if partisan intent plays any role, not just a dominant one.
DeSantis said the map was drawn in a “race-neutral” fashion in anticipation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakening the Voting Rights Act. That ruling was handed down while the Legislature was debating the map. The governor's lawyers also argued that parts of the Fair Districts Amendment should no longer apply.
Update (October 2, 2026): the challenge failed to block the map before the midterms. A Leon County circuit judge denied a temporary injunction (Circuit Judge Joshua Hawkes, a DeSantis appointee, presided over the combined cases); the 1st District Court of Appeal declined to reverse; and on June 10, 2026 the Florida Supreme Court, 6-1, refused to intervene, leaving the map in place for the 2026 election. Justice Jorge Labarga dissented, writing that the court would “not have the opportunity to review the issues of statewide importance” raised by the challengers. The merits case was not decided by that ruling.
Correction (October 2, 2026): an earlier version of this entry said the map was enacted in response to a Trump directive issued after the Supreme Court's Voting Rights Act ruling, as part of a coordinated effort across six named states. The record shows the map was drafted before that ruling, in anticipation of it, and we found no source for the six-state claim. It also said Poreda testified he used partisan data “mixed in” across the entire map; that phrase is the plaintiffs' description, and his own words are now quoted. A claim that Attorney General James Uthmeier would defend the map was removed because no available source text supports it.